Bareback rider follows in father’s footsteps

World champion bareback rider Kaycee Feild took home more than $53,000 by winning the Super Series Championship bareback riding event on Saturday. His dad, Lewis Feild, won the same event in Houston in 1982. (Smiley N. Pool/Chronicle)

By Jason McDaniel

Like father, like son.

Three-time all-around world champion Lewis Feild won the bareback riding title at Houston’s rodeo in 1982 — long before his son, reigning world champ bareback rider Kaycee Feild, was born.

Now — exactly 30 years later — Kaycee’s name is with his father’s on the long list of Houston champions after winning the BP Super Series Championship Shootout on Saturday at Reliant Stadium.

And dad probably never dreamed of a check this big.

With his victory in the $50,000, four-man shootout round — a lucrative payout that didn’t start until the inception of the Super Series format in 2007 — Kaycee exited RodeoHouston with $53,650.

“This rodeo’s been around forever, it’s really prestigious, my dad’s won it … and now I can put my buckle next to his,” Kaycee said. “I’ve always dreamed of winning this rodeo, especially when I first started and they put the $50,000 up for us cowboys. It makes it that much better and makes me compete that much harder.”

Reaches one goal

Kaycee, 24, posted the high score in the 10-man final, an 88.5, then executed a 93-point ride on MGM Deuces Night in the shootout to set a new Houston record.

Two-time Houston champion Clint Cannon set the previous mark at 92 in 2009.

“That’s my goal everywhere I go — to beat records and set arena records, and hopefully someday beat the world record (94),” Feild said.

Adam Gray won the tie-down roping shootout in 8.8 seconds, which isn’t close to the Houston record, but Gray, in his fifth appearance in Houston, set a personal-best here with $56,300.

“I hadn’t won $5,000 combined in the first four years,” Gray said. “It’s always been one of those rodeos that seem to elude me.”

Not anymore.

Gray couldn’t pinpoint exactly what went right, except for drawing a herd of good calves, but he’ll take it.

“This is a big win because of how much money it is at one time,” Gray said. “A lot of people work all year to make $50,000.

‘I won Houston’

“But more important for me — because the money will all be spent — I can look back 30 or 40 years from now, see the saddle and the buckle, and tell my kids or grandkids, ‘Yeah, I remember that time I won Houston.’ ”

Barrel racer Lindsay Sears, the reigning and two-time world champion, won Houston again. Sears, who won her first Houston championship in 2008, claimed her second with a 14.13 in the shootout.

Sears edged out Stephenville’s Carlee Pierce by one hundredth of a second, earning $59,900.

She won $61,500 here three years ago.

Beaumont’s Beau Schroeder won the bull riding championship. He was bucked off in the final but advanced on a tiebreaker, then was the only rider to stay on for 8 seconds in the shootout.

His 84.5 in the short round earned him $56,200.

Two-time world champion saddle bronc rider Cody Wright, the oldest of six bronc-riding brothers, added a Houston championship with a Houston-record score of 91 points.